The extent of the new damage to Iran nuclear facilities caused by the current military conflict remains unclear as of Monday night following potentially contradictory statements from the IAEA, Iran, Israel, and the US on the issue.
On one hand, late Monday, there were reports that the US had finally carried out a major attack on Iran’s Isfahan nuclear facility. On the other hand, there were no confirmations and until that attack it was unclear if any nuclear facilities had been attacked for much of the conflict’s first three days.
IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi, earlier Monday, told the IAEA Board of Governors that there is no evidence that either the US or Israel has struck any nuclear sites in Iran as part of the current war.
“Regarding the status of the nuclear installations in Iran up to now, we have no indication that any of the nuclear installations, including the Bushehr nuclear power plant, the Tehran research reactor, or other nuclear fuel cycle facilities have been damaged or hit,” Grossi said.
To date, Israel has repeatedly refused to name any nuclear sites it might have struck, despite having named such sites during the Israel-Iran war in June.
Likewise, the US has named a long list of targets it struck, which did not include any nuclear sites.
Israeli spokespeople have vaguely mentioned targeting the nuclear program, and Israel did assassinate two high-level Iranian nuclear authorities who were running or have run the SPND nuclear program.
There have also been unconfirmed reports of attacks around Isfahan, but those could be unrelated to the nuclear program.
But later Monday, Iran’s ambassador to the UN nuclear watchdog said that Iran’s sprawling nuclear facility at Natanz was struck during US and Israeli military operations against the Islamic Republic.
“Again they attacked Iran’s peaceful, safeguarded nuclear facilities yesterday,” Reza Najafi told reporters at a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 35-nation board of governors. Asked by Reuters which facilities were hit, he replied: “Natanz.”
Explosions heard at various Iranian nuclear sites on Monday
There were also reports later Monday of explosions at various Iranian nuclear facilities.
The Jerusalem Post sought to clarify the contradictions with the IAEA spokesperson.
The IAEA spokesperson referred the Post to Grossi’s press conference later on Monday.
At the press conference, Grossi did not directly address the contradiction.
However, Grossi said that much of his information on the state of things in Iran stemmed from technological devices scanning for radiological changes, such as leaks of toxic nuclear materials into the air in a given area.
His staff has seen no such leakages.
At the same time, Grossi said that since the Israel-US attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities in June 2025, his staff has had no access to any of the central facilities, whether Natanz, Isfahan, or Fordow.
When asked specifically about reports on Friday that Isfahan had been struck, he made reference to his lack of direct access to that facility.
Grossi also speculated that most of Iran’s 60% enriched uranium remains deep underground at Isfahan and was not bombed in June 2025, nor has it yet been bombed during the current conflict.